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Against the historical background of slavery and colonialism, this study investigates how white and Afro-Caribbean women writers have responded to feminist, abolitionist and post-emancipationist issues. It aims to reveal a relationship between colonial exploitation and female sexual oppression. ... Read more

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This study focuses on the ways in which two of the most prominent Caribbean women writers residing in the United States, Michelle Cliff and Jamaica Kincaid, have made themselves at home within Caribbean poetics, even as their migration to the United States affords them participation and acceptance within its literary space. ... Read more

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Jamaica Kincaid's lyrical and political storytelling is given a fresh perspective in this examination of Kincaid's contribution to feminist and postcolonial theories over the past 20 years. The relevance of Kincaid's writing is demonstrated through its capability to account for contemporary sociocultural complexities and point the way toward a politics of collective justice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Cold Indictment of Slavery
In BABOUK, Guy Endore continues along the same artistic heights he hit the previous year with THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS, this time turning his attention to the Haitian slave trade and the brutality of Western civilization.Inreading this, it's no surprise that it was a commercial catastrophe forVanguard Press in 1934, especially since the original jacket contained theparatextual blurb "From The Author Of THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS",obviously desperate at marketing the controversial content by associatingit with the former success.The story is told from the perspective of ayoung slave, Babouk, and, as always, Endore does an extensive amount ofresearch on his subject matter.This new Voices of Resistance edition (thefirst since '34) is excellent, with an outstanding preface and postfacethat place both the text and the revolution into a historical context forthe reader unfamiliar with Haiti's struggle for freedom.The typeface hasimproved (Endore consented to having the original plates melted down to aidthe war effort) and the overall design is far superior.The material isdisturbing and for good reason.I highly recommend this work, not onlybecause Endore is a brilliant storyteller, but because he relentlesslyattacks Western patterns of domination and oppression at a time in historywhen it was incredibly unpopular to do so.The author, in a 1963inscription, once wrote accurately: "BABOUK is my unknown masterpiece. At any rate, unknown." ... Read more

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Changing her name early in her career because her parents disapproved of her writing, Jamaica Kincaid crossed audiences to embrace feminist, American, postcolonial and world literature. This book offers an introduction and guided overview of her characters, plots, humor, symbols, and classic themes. Designed for students, fans, librarians, and teachers, the 84 A-to-Z entries combine commentary from interviewers, feminist historians, and book critics with numerous citations from primary and secondary sources and comparative literature. The companion features a chronology of Kincaid's life, West Indies heritage and works, and includes a character name chart. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Travel writing at its best
This was a very interesting collection that once again made me tip my hat to the "Best American" series that Houghton Mifflin puts out.The pieces were almost all worth reading, and they ranged all over the world.There were articles that take place in Haiti, Vietnam, Florida, the West African coast, New Jersey, the Great Lakes, China, the Grand Canyon, Thailand, Panama, Saudi Arabia, the middle of the ocean, Afghanistan, the Scottish Highlands, and Tijuana.There were big names like Simon Winchester, William Vollmann, John McPhee, Thomas Kenneally, Pam Houston, Jim Harrison, and Madison Smartt Bell.

Most of the pieces were were not intended for guidebooks, and deal with serious issues.One dealt with the world's dead and dying languages. Another discussed a few days spent with an American military intelligence man in the Middle East - I learned more from that one about what really goes on in those places than I have from hundreds of other news stories.Wacky and incredibly persistent William Vollmann goes on a quest to discover the hidden tunnels that Chinese immigrants supposedly used in Tijuana.William L. Heat-Moon goes on a quest to find some ciscos, once a popular fish for people's tables.Simon Winchester unintentionally spends some time in the tiny British territory of Asuncion Island, essentially a big dormant volcano sticking out of the sea.Murad Kalam describes a pilgrimmage to Mecca, and the chaos and suffering that he encounters there.J. Michael Fay describes efforts by environmentalists to protect the African coast and its creatures from exploitation.In a piece that I have read before, noted gourmand Jim Harrison describes a fantastic 37 course lunch, all based on ancient recipes, that he experienced at a French chateau.Ben Ryder Howe wanders around the wild, dangerous area between Panama and Colombia.Closer to home, Tom Bissell relates a trip he took to Vietnam with his macho, war veteran father; and William Blundell takes on Florida and his father's retirement years there.

Most of it was fascinating and wonderfully written - travel journalism at its best.

Glad I'm not there
Travel has become so much easier that it has made travel writing harder.Travel writers used to feed the imagination by tales of exotic places the reader could only dream of seeing, reached after long and arduous journeys. Simon Winchester's piece about Ascension Island and Ben Ryder Howe on the Darien Gap are the closest to being in that old-fashioned genre in this book. These days we can jet to Timbuctu or Samarkandand stay at the Holiday Inn.
To make up for the lack of difficulty getting there, some places are so dangerous that accounts of them provide vicarious excitement. Madison Smart Bell in Haiti and Robert Young Felton on the NorthWest Frontier are in this category.A lesser degree of this is to make the destination sound so unpleasant that we feel good not being there. Seth Stevenson does this brilliantly about India. He should negotiate with the Indian Tourist Board to get bribed to keep quiet. Others to make you happy you stayed home are Peter Hessler (helping a sick child in China) and Murad Kalam on the Haj.
Another gimmick is to stretch the definition of "travel writing". William Blundell, Ian Frazier, William Least Heat Moon, Pam Houston and John McPhee do not leave the United States. Bucky McMahon doesn't get anywhere. Frazier describes a trip from Montclair, New Jersey to Weehawken, New Jersey. No doubt this will intrigue Montclair residents who want to know what Weehawken is like. McPhee is wonderful at explaining complicated technology, and that's what he mostly does in his long piece about barges in the Mid-West.I always find reading McPhee rather hard work.

What would be so bad about uplifting, humourous writing?
I'm sorry. I haven't even completed the book. And,in fact, I may not complete it. There's too much to read to subject myself to such negativity. So, the search for stories for this book was for "rare pieces that weren't 'aggressively positive'; or that 'underline my sense of my displacement.'
Give me a break!
This is travel writing! "A Walk in the Woods" still stands out as my all-time favorite piece of travel writing. Please don't misunderstand - I read copious amounts of non-fiction, and sadly, the majority of that writing isn't positive - it's more investigative, historical material or the author has an ax to grind - as in Al Franken's latest book.
But, what's wrong with picking up something to read that will provide a sense of joy or enlighenment? I don't care to read about how brutal Haiti's existence has been - I get quite enough of reality thru the Jim Lehrer Newshour.
Don't waste your money if you're hoping for something light - that's for sure.

Essays Highlight the Dark Underbelly of Travel
This year's editor Jamaica Kincaid has done an excellent job of choosing essays that, more than chronicle exotic journeys, speak about the perplexities of the human condition as her selections are often scabrous, sardonic, and emphasize the dangers and follies that roil beneath the surface of a travel itinerary. Here are some highlights:

1. "War Wounds" by Tom Bissell. A son and father, a Vietnam vet, travel through the father's war trajectory forty years later as Bissell explores what it means to be the son of a "war wounded" father.

2. "My Florida" by William E. Blundell. Famous for his book The Art of Feature Writing, Blundell has written my favorite essay in the collection. This is a gem of style, pungent, sarcastic, and wise. Blundell describes Florida as a place of grotesque indulgence for those geriatrics who decided to retire into a life of philistinism, tackiness, and decadence. A hilarious essay that would make Mark Twain proud.

3. "A Really Big Lunch" by Jim Harrison. Novelist Jim Harrison proves to also be a rather unapologetic gourmand who describes with hilarity his glutton quests with fellow sensualists. Almost as funny as "My Florida."

4. "My Kindergarten" by Peter Hessler. Set in rural China, this is a sad but inspiring essay about a peasant family struggling to overcome a mentally-handicapped family member and a child with a near deadly blood disease. Hessler shows how peasants, held in contempt, and urban citizens, given proper medical care, are treated differently by the government.

5. "My Thai Girlfriends" by Tom Ireland. An American living in Thailand, Ireland can't convince anyone that he is not a tomcat American embarking on a salacious quest in spite of his demure lifestyle.

6. "If It Doesn't Kill You First" by Murad Kalam. A recent convert to Islam and novelist, Kalam chronicles his pilgrimage to Mecca and shows his struggle to navigate through excruciating ritual, fanatics, and Muslims who, like him, are sincere but scared living in a post 9/11 world.

7. "Into the Land of Bin Laden" by Robert Young Pelton. The author shows how difficult it is to track Bin Laden in the no-man's land region of Taliban sympathizers and tribalists who afford great loyalty to the el Qaeda leader. He goes deep in the mountains of the Pakistan border and risks his life to tell his tale. ... Read more

Product Description
Her hauntingly beautiful novels, short stories, and essays have established her as one of the most innovative writers.

This title, Jamaica Kincaid, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Views series, examines the major works of Jamaica Kincaid through full-length critical essays by expert literary critics. In addition, this title features a short biography on Jamaica Kincaid, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University. ... Read more

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A delightful compendium of writing on plants.

The passion for gardening and the passion for words come together in this inspired anthology, a collection of essays on topics as diverse as beans and roses, by writers who garden and by gardeners who write. Among the contributors are Christopher Lloyd, on poppies; Marina Warner, who remembers the Guinée rose; and Henri Cole, who offers poems on the bearded iris and on peonies. There is also an explanation of the sexiness of castor beans from Michael Pollan and an essay from Maxine Kumin on how, as Henry David Thoreau put it, one "[makes] the earth say beans instead of grass." Most of the essays are new in print, but Colette, Katharine S. White, D. H. Lawrence, and several other old favorites make appearances. Jamaica Kincaid, the much-admired writer and a passionate gardener herself, rounds up this diverse crew. A wonderful gift for green thumbs, My Favorite Plant is a happy collection of fresh takes on old friends.

Other contributors include:
Hilton Als
Mary Keen
Ken Druse
Duane Michals
Michael Fox
David Raffeld
Ian Frazier
Graham Stuart Thomas
Daniel Hinkley
Wayne Winterrowd
Amazon.com Review
This anthology edited by novelist JamaicaKincaid is a fascinatingly quirky compilation of writings aboutplants by the people who love them. Some are exceedinglypractical--Ken Druse's essay "Desire Under the Jacks" gives you allthe information you need to grow Arisaema triphyllum fromseed--while others are more lyrical, such as Colette's writings onlilies and hellebores, and the poetry scattered among the essays.

Like a magazine, there are pages you may skip over because you findthe subject or style doesn't appeal to you, only to find yourselfriveted by the next piece of writing, which awakens in you a lust toown a plant, the existence of which you were unaware of a few minutesearlier. The very best writing opens your eyes to something new: anexperience, an object, a place, or in this instance, a plant. Everytype of gardener, novice, expert, or dreamer will find such writingswithin these pages.

With its compact format, this is a book thatcan be slipped into the pocket and dipped into in those moments thatbecome available between life's many activities, or put next to aguest bed for the enjoyment of visitors. The idiosyncratictypeface may not appeal at first, but you will get used toit. --Stephanie Donaldson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Ringworm?And gardening?Not quite getting this!
I was very pleased with this book, which is why I went out and bought the other Jamaica Kincaid gardening related book.

This would be a lovely gift for a keen gardener, particularly in winter, when one can only dream about the garden.The essays were mainly interesting and informative - some were funny and poignant.The ones that wrote about their actual favourite plant were the best - the ones that went off on 'frolics of their own' just didnt cut it, but these were few, and probably added for unecessary 'colour' and 'arty-fartyness'!The paeony and meconopsis ones are my favourites.

A glowing "diary" by famous authors and prominent gardeners.
Every gardener has a favorite plant and is anxious to share plants and stories with others. Some of these essays are filled with technical information, others are lyrical musings on the esthetic of plants. Eitherway, this is a book to cuddle up with and to cherish.It's also a perfectspecial occasion gift for other gardeners.

uneven in level of interest to the average gardener
Overall, the gardeners who wrote about their favorite plants were more interesting to read than most of the other authors. The selection that dealt with ringworm was especially out of place (what on earth did THAThave to do with plants?). The essay on plant collecting was great, though,and Tony Avent's short essay on hostas almost makes me like them. Almost.And you have to like a book that has an essay on Meconopsis. I likedexactly 50% of this book. ... Read more

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Since its publication in 1985, Annie John has become one of the most widely taught novels in American high schools. Part of its appeal lies in its unique setting, the island of Antigua. This interdisciplinary collection of 30 primary documents and commentary will enrich the reader's understanding of the historical, social, and cultural contexts of the novel. Among the topics examined are slavery in the Caribbean, the various religions in the Caribbean islands, the controversy over Christopher Columbus, family life in Antigua, and emigrations from the West Indies to the United States. Sources include newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, first-person narratives and memoirs of life in the Caribbean, letters, and position papers. ... Read more

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A Modern Library Paperback Original

During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Real travel adventure
We tend to take for granted the intrepid and brave explorers that brought us knowledge of far-off places and new plants and peoples.Reading Frank Kingdon Ward is like being part of his party as he nonchalantly climbs unknown, rugged mountains for the love of discovery.His endurance and bravery during a time when disease and primitive camping were common, is an inspiration to those of us coddled in today's comforts. I pick up his books whenever I begin to feel that modern life is "difficult"! ... Read more

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An esteemed annual anthology assembles an eclectic collection of twenty essays drawn from periodicals across the country, including nonfiction by Grace Paley, Cynthia Ozick, William Gass, and others, about such subjects as AIDS, gardening, activism, and marriage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The best American essays of 1995, need I say the more?
Essays are perhaps the greatest literary form in history; the good ones are always a pleasure to read, the best ones touch us, arouses something deep inside in our heart and mind, and all of them are short, usually under thirty minutes to read.So, when there is an annual anthology of the best American essays, how can one resist?The entries span a wide range, from Marcus Aurelius to homosexuality to gardening.And although there is no unifying theme, all of the authors showcase the power of pure, unrestrained writing, the brilliance often missing from today's commercial periodicals ... Read more